Dealer starts social networking site

Posted on May 5th, 2009

A Florida boat dealer has started a new Web site for social networking among dealers and others in the industry.

Jim Sabia, owner of Top Notch Marine in Fort Pierce and Melbourne, has been a dealer for 22 years and said he created www.marineindustry.org as a place where industry professionals can network and learn from each other.

Sabia’s site has been up for less than a week and he says new people are joining every day.

“I believe that the industry needs a social place online,” he said. “Dealers work really, really hard today, all of us do, and we get so involved in our day-to-day stuff … and we forget about all the other people in the industry that are doing the same thing we are and there’s such a huge resource there.”

Sabia decided to start the site after taking part in a Bayliner dealer council meeting. Sitting in a room with 20 other dealers for a day and a half, he said he learned so much that he wanted to share it with others.

While he understands some may be hesitant to join because of the competitive nature of the business, Sabia hopes his site will become a portal for exchanging ideas and information.

Ultimately, he’d like dealers to use the site to share inventory as well.

“It would help to keep inventory fresh all over the country,” he said. “If we can learn anything from the Internet, we can learn that the more content we can get up there, overall, everyone does better.”